Can the power of prayer bring peace? There’s only 1 way to find out!

It’s tempting (and understandable) to think that issues like violence on our streets demand practical action and initiatives to address them. And they do. But that’s not all. The weird and wonderful thing about trying to be a Christian is that you have to trust that praying for and about things and into situations plays a part in changing them. So this action is about setting up a prayer group specifically to pray for peace on your streets and against the rise in youth violence.

But make this action as real and rooted as it can be. In other words: find out the facts and stats about youth violence in your area. Make sure you’re informed. Don’t just pray general words about love and peace. Pray specific prayers for specific places and projects and people. And hope (and wait) for your prayers to change you every bit as much as they impact the situation; making you better able to live in such a way that you help the situation yourself.

If the area where you live doesn’t suffer from much violence on the streets then thank God. But also take the time to learn about places where it is a real issue. Places like Manchester and London, for instance. And why not zoom in on the areas and streets you’re praying for using Google Earth.

And what about trying to write a special prayer for your community addressing the issues of youth street violence? Andy Hawthorne of the Message Trust in Manchester is trying to encourage people to join together to commit a cumulative total of one million hours of prayer to this issues. You could lend your efforts to his initiative."

Related resources

Article about knife crime in Manchester

The Government website on knife crime

The Home Office site on youth crime

A national charity website focussed on knife crime